The book can be laboriously lofty at times as he waxes poetic about where exactly the dust in this or that hamsin is coming from how he feels about the seasons etc Halkin does a good job of pointing out the problems of living as a culturally committed but non halakhic Jew in America but doesn t really grapple with the fact that the bigger problem with his worldview is its non halakhic dimension rather than the need for Israel to rescue it I m a big fan of using koalas in extended metaphors but it is ultimately necessary to have a purpose to keep living and raising your children as a committed Jew or Frenchman Latvian etc this is what makes us different to animals Purpose is what halakha can provide and has always provided the Jewish people It s a pity Halkin didn t spend time grappling with it rather than dismissing it out of hand and there s certainly what to grapple with Perhaps it would have saved him the need to fetishize the land so much Letters to an American Jewish Friend a Zionist s Polemic As an American Jew who has made Aliyah I have been focused on the divide between Jews in Israel and the US I recently read We Stand Divided by Daniel Gordis which you can read my review Recently while visiting a synagogue they had this classic that I have always wanted to read on a bookshelf so I borrowed and read it. The divide Jews of Israel and the US is nothing new In 1997 in his updated The Zionist Idea Arthur Herzberg points out the divergent perspectives of Zionism between the US and Israel for which the basis was laid out in his original publication in 1958 And Hillel Halkin has taken a little different approach to this classic issue In the book he writes to a fictitious friend A_____ who he tries to convince to make Aliyah. Without explicitly stating it he highlights a fundamental difference in the approach to Zionism that Jews in the US take versus Jews in Israel Jews in the US believe it is important to have an Israel and yet they do not feel the need to move there They will support it in many ways without the ultimate act of moving there In contrast Jews in Israel believe that all Jews should move to Israel As Arthur Herzberg highlights in The Zionist Idea this goes back to a debate between Herzl and Ahad Ha am and the very start of the 20th century Hillel Halkin divides the book into 6 letters in which he tries to stress a major theme The first covers the need for Jews to move to Israel The second reviews the demographics of the diaspora versus Israel The dialogue continues on to can Judaism survive in America is there a Jewish culture in America verus how can Jewish culture develop in Israel ending in a powerful metaphor about the survival of Kuala Bears I found portions of the book extremely engaging while I found other portions to be difficult to get through I have read other books by Hillel Halkin and found them extremely well written clear and concise however I did not get the sense of it with this book I chalk the unevenness of the writing to the fact it was the first book he authored. Even so I do think it is an important book to read and understand And yet I would not recommend it to everyone To really get the most out of the book I believe you have to have somewhat of a base of Judaism and Zionism to begin with to understand what the author is saying in many places This is not a book that can reach the average Jew in America who might not have that background which is curious because I do believe that the author wrote the book to reach Jewish Americans Perhaps the intent was to reach a targeted audience of Jewish American Leaders who he presumed would have such a background. Finally reading a book published in 1977 that takes on the divergent perspectives between Jews in America and Israel demonstrates the divide that has always existed despite the popular view that the divide is a recent occurrence It also sheds light to the changes that have occurred since 1977 So if you do have a basic understanding of Zionism Judaism in the US and Israel it is a book I would highly recommend Letters to an American Jewish Friend a Zionist s Polemic
Hillel Halkin is an American born Jew who has cast his personal and historical lot with Israel The imaginary American Jewish friend to whom Halkin directs his onrush of argument is an equally committed young Jew who however upholds the possibility of a viable Jewish life outside of Israel He has just returned to the United states after his second visit to Israel and written a letter of his impressions which triggers the present correspondence The two friends argue about Zionism Israel Jewish history and culture the nature of Jewishness As the gauntlet is flung back and forth Halkin elaborates his case that Jewish history and Israeli history are two lines in the process of converging so that for all practical purposes the struggle for Jewish survival and the struggle for Israel are the same and that any Jew who chooses in the absence of extenuating circumstances not to live in Israel is removing himself to the peripheries of the struggle for Jewish survival and away from the center of Jewish history Either orsooner or later today or tomorrow you will have to decide Halkin concludes Letters to an American Jewish Friend a Zionist s PolemicHillel Halkin born 1939 is an American born Israeli translator biographer literary critic and novelist who has lived in Israel since 1970 site_link Hillel Halkin born 1939 is an American born Israeli translator biographer literary critic and novelist who has lived in Israel since 1970 site_link site_link.
